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Mugabe nationalisation law surprises foreign
businesses

Independent, UK

By Sean FarrellTuesday, 11 March
2008

British companies are seeking details of Zimbabwean legislation
that wouldenforce local ownership of their operations after Robert Mugabe,
thecountry's president, surprised observers by signing a Bill requiring them
tohand over control.

Many people had thought the Bill requiring
foreign businesses to offer 51per cent stakes to black Zimbabweans had
lapsed. Mr Mugabe had left itunsigned after it was passed by Parliament in
September, but he signed it on7 March.

UK companies operating in
Zimbabwe include Barclays and Standard Chartered.Both banks have been in the
country for about 100 years.

Barclays said: "The implementation details
of this law are still unclear.Once further information is available we will
assess it in more detail anddecide on what steps we should take." Barclays
has 1,200 employees and187,000 customers in the country.

Standard
Chartered also said it was seeking clarification. StandardChartered has
about 860 staff and 78,000 customers in Zimbabwe. The bankwrote down the
value of its Zimbabwe business in 2005. Other UK-listedcompanies in Zimbabwe
include the miners Rio Tinto and AngloAmerican, whichboth said they had
small operations there.

The Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act
may not cover mines but ofgreater concern would be the Mining and Minerals
Amendment Bill, which hasnot yet been passed by Parliament. It is understood
that the legislationwould involve handing over a 25 per cent share to the
Government as part ofputting 51 per cent in Zimbabwean hands. Companies
might also have to paypunitive royalties.

Rio Tinto employs more than
200 people in Zimbabwe where it has a smalldiamond mine called Murowa.
AngloAmerican has a platinum "project" which hasnot yet been developed into
a mine and employs about 400 people in thecountry.

A Rio Tinto
spokesman said: "Rio Tinto is supportive of a move towardsindigenisation
provided it is done at the right pace and doesn't discouragemuch-needed
overseas investment in the Zimbabwean mining industry." TheMurowa mine is 22
per cent-owned by a Zimbabwe-controlled partner calledRioZim, he
added.

Some observers believe Mr Mugabe may have signed the Bill as a
gesturebecause he is fighting a tough election battle with his former
financeminister, Simba Makoni. Zimbabwe goes to the polls later this month
amidwidespread hunger, mass unemployment and 100,000 per cent inflation.

Empire not able to clean up
mess

11.03.2008LOUIS PIERARDTHE 53-nation
Commonwealth is a ``force' for good. But, like theUnited Nations, it is only
as good as constituent parts.

Commonwealth Secretary General Don
McKinnon has run up the white flagover Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe. He tried
but failed.

Yesterday he conceded Zimbabwe was irredeemable,
reaching the sameconclusion as those in the exodus from the former British
colony in the pasteight years.

Mr McKinnon, who steps down from
his post (perhaps inauspiciously) onApril 1, said Zimbabwe had isolated
itself from the international communityto the extent that it could now be
compared to Myanmar or North Korea.

All diplomatic
avenues had been exhausted, he said: ``We did all wecould ... but so did the
UN, so did the UK and US'.Mr McKinnon's affable smile has masked the
fact that he had a taskcomparable to that of Sisyphus. Armed with neither
carrot nor stick he hashad to fall back on good intentions and reason to try
to restore sanity toZimbabwe.

But none of that matters to
Mugabe. His riposte to the Commonwealth'sdecision to extend Zimbabwe's
suspension was to abandon that bodyaltogether, calling it an ``evil
organisation' and a front for UK efforts to``enslave' his
country.

He also described Mr McKinnon as ``a progeny of criminal
descent'whose ancestors had been deported by the British ``because they were
robbersand murderers'.

Inflation in Zimbabwe is estimated at a staggering 7600
per cent andunemployment at 80 per cent. Power and fuel shortages are
constant and pricecontrols have emptied shelves and depleted stocks,
bringing shops andfactories to a standstill. Dissent is met with ruthless
repression.

Mugabe has comprehensively wrecked his own country with
the complicityof some African leaders and the acquiescence of others, such
as SouthAfrica. As Mr McKinnon has noted, the despot is still a
revolutionary heroto many in Africa because he stood up against the racist
minority governmentof Ian Smith. But what sustains him is that his
Commonwealth colleagues feara backlash from militant groups in their own
states who would useanti-Mugabe action to accuse them of capitulating to
``imperialist'Europeans.

In that way Mugabe's malaise becomes a
collective madness. If Africa'sleaders gain and hold power as the antidote
to the bane of empire, then itis in their interests to perpetuate the
neurosis of victimhood. In that waykleptocrats are able to devour their own
nations' futures, unhindered.

Despite representing 1.8 billion
people, the Commonwealth was never amajor player on the world stage,
offering little more than a collegialenvironment for a chat. Today it
emerges from the Zimbabwe failure very muchdiminished. Ironically, yesterday
was Commonwealth Day, observed on thesecond Monday of every
March.

That it should have passed unremarked indicates its lack of
relevancein our daily lives. Even the British Government, with its recently
announcedplans for immigration barriers to its former allies, is prepared to
treatthe legacy of empire as an annoying anachronism.

Harare releases observer list

ZIMBABWE yesterday released a list of international organisations
and countries accredited to observe elections there this month.

The
move is aimed at rebutting media reports that no international observer
structures would be welcome during the March 29 poll.

"Zimbabwe
has invited countries and organisation from all parts of the world . Our
list excludes those countries with preconceived ideas who believe that the
only free and fair election is where the opposition wins," Zimbabwean
ambassador to SA Simon Moyo said.

The countries that have been
excluded include the US, the UK, Australia and other European countries with
the exception of Russia.

Moyo charged that some of these countries had
already "written their reports", and that his government had no desire "to
give such cooked reports the credence and credibility they lack and do not
deserve".

"Foreign invitees were selected on the basis of reciprocity
as well as their objectivity and impartiality in their relationship with
Zimbabwe."

He said all member countries in the Southern African
Development Community were invited.

South American and some Asian
countries were coming to observe the elections in line with the country's
electoral act and the SADC principles and guidelines that governed
democratic elections.

He lambasted the South African media for
peddling what he called "a virulent and vicious smear campaign by the west"
against his country that was "certainly not out of ignorance of the facts,
but out of sheer malice".

Among other African organisations and
institutions, Zimbabwe has accredited organisations such as the Pan African
Parliament , the African Union Commission and the continent's five regional
economic structures.

The international institutions invited included the
Non-Aligned Movement, the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific group of states, the
Caribbean Community, the Association of South East Asian Nations, the Arab
Maghreb Union, the Community of Portuguese Speaking (Lusophone) countries
and the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development.

The Congress
of South African Trade Unions said it welcomed the news that some
international bodies would be invited.

Spokesman Patrick Craven said: "We
remain sceptical about the conditions that have not been properly and
sufficiently rendered conducive for all parties to campaign freely."
Zimbabwe had not failed to render elections free and fair even in the
presence of international observers who monitored earlier
elections.

"But we hope that democracy and the will of the people will
prevail this time," he said.

Moyo predicts unprecedented chaos in Zimbabwe
elections

New Zimbabwe

By Fikile MapalaLast updated: 03/10/2008 23:44:00A
LEADING Zimbabwean political commentator has predicted "unprecedented chaos"
in elections scheduled for March 29, as European Union foreign ministers on
Monday pushed President Robert Mugabe to ensure the electoral process is
"free and fair".

Political scientist and independent MP for Tsholotsho
Professor Jonathan Moyo said Zimbabwe was going into an election it could
not afford after a constitutional amendment passed last year brought forward
council, senate, parliamentary and presidential elections to be held on the
same day.

Moyo, a respected academic and former information minister,
said the Zanu PF government had no capacity to run such a mammoth
election.

He said the chaos that characterised the sitting of the
nomination courts around the country on February 15 was a clear indicator
that the government was ill-prepared for the synchronised polls.

He
said the nomination process was marred by inadequate manpower, a shambolic
voters' roll, power-cuts, and the unavailability of a delimitation report to
guide candidates on constituency boundaries.

Moyo said: "You will witness
unprecedented chaos from 7AM to 7PM on March 29 not because of any political
mischief by Zanu PF, but purely on technical grounds. The state is going to
be stretched to the limit."

Speaking to journalists at a press club in
Harare last Wednesday, Moyo said the Zanu PF government did not have the
budget as well as the technical capacity to successfully run the harmonised
elections - a sure recipe for disaster.

He said: "This election is
going to be very, very expensive. I agree with those who say democracy is
very expensive and if you look at the government budget, you will realise
that we are going to have an election we cannot afford."

Moyo said it
was also going to be difficult to recruit enough and reliable manpower to
run the polls given that a lot of teachers who have worked as polling
officers in past elections have left the country while the remaining ones
are on strike.

Moyo said: "We do not have enough human resources to run
this election. There are no teachers for example. The teachers who used to
be recruited as polling officers are just not there. They have left the
country."

The former university lecturer said he got surprised to hear
that there was a teachers' strike going on at schools.

He said: "I
wonder who is on strike because the teachers are not there. They have left.
And I can tell you disaster is very easy to predict in such a scenario as
ours."Teachers went on strike last month demanding a review of their monthly
pay after soldiers got a salary windfall which excluded all other government
workers.

Moyo blasted Mugabe -- his former boss -- for calling
"needless, synchronised elections", saying only the presidential poll was
due since only the state president's term of office had expired.

He
explained: "We did not need to have elections for local government councils
and the House of Assembly. It's only the president's tenure that had expired
and the country's constitution only required that elections be held to elect
a president not all of us."

Mugabe's strategists, Moyo said, had come up
with the idea of the joint elections as a way of allowing the ageing leader
to be assisted by aspiring councillors and legislators in his controversial
re-election bid.

He observed: "Mugabe's strategy here was very simple. If
you want every Zanu PF politician to support the candidature of the
president then you must create a risk for them as well.

"To create
the risk, you dissolve parliament and call for fresh elections even before
the MPs' terms have expired."

The European Union on Monday urged
President Mugabe to ensure a free and fair poll, although EU ministers said
they were increasingly worried the Southern African nation's dire political
and economic state will endanger a vote that would meet international
standards.

"The voice of the people of Zimbabwe needs to be heard in free
elections, in which they cast their votes done without ... fear," British
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said.

"We want to see elections that
are properly free and fair. That's very difficult when you have got 3 to 4
million refugees outside the country."

Moyo said he feared many voters
could fail to cast their ballots because of the redrawing of constituency
boundaries and new voting procedures.

He added: "Very few people know
that these elections will be ward-based. That knowledge is hardly known by
the electorate. For example my constituency Tsholotsho was divided into two
and new wards were created. People out there don't know where they will vote
from."

Moyo has predicted a second round of voting in the presidential
race, saying it would be impossible for either President Mugabe, opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai or former finance minister Simba Makoni, running as
an independent, to get a majority 51 percent share of the votes on March 29
as required by the constitution.

He said: "There is going to be a
run-off between Mugabe and Tsvangirai or between Mugabe and Makoni. But
there won't be the same scenario between Makoni and Tsvangirai."

Zimbabwe Election Support
Network - Press Statement

The Zimbabwean

Monday, 10 March 2008 14:52

ZESN COMMENDS ZEC ON RELEASE OF
POLLING STATIONS AND URGES CORRECTIONS AND AN INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF
POLLING STATIONS

Harare 10 March 2008 - The Zimbabwe Election Support
Network (ZESN) commends the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) on the
recent publication of the list of polling stations, which appeared in the
Saturday 08 March edition of The Herald.

This information is
critical for registered voters to know where they will vote on Election
Day."The ZEC's publication of the list of polling stations is an important
and positive step. However, the list contains significant errors and
relatively few polling stations in Bulawayo and Harare provinces. ZESN
encourages the ZEC to rectify these issues so that everyone who wishes to
vote has a reasonable opportunity to do so on. It would be unfortunate if
the problem of too few polling stations in these provinces in 2002 is
repeated", comments ZESN Board Chairperson Mr Noel Kututwa.ZESN notes that
the polling station information for Matabeleland North appears to be
scrambled - with polling stations located in the wrong constituency. For
example, Victoria Pre-School polling station is listed in Ward 1 of Binga
Rural District Council (RDC). Actually the polling station is in Victoria
Falls Municipality. This is just one of many such errors for the province.
ZESN encourages the ZEC to urgently print a corrected list of polling
stations to ensure that all registered voters know their polling stations on
Election Day.Further, ZESN notes that there is a significant discrepancy in
the number of registered voters per polling station for different provinces.
There should be some variation, but the number of registered voters per
polling station in Bulawayo and Harare is more than twice that of the other
provinces (see table below). The situation is similar in Gweru and Mutare
municipalities where the average number of register voters per polling
station is 1,234.8 and 1,277.3 respectively. As a result, the average voter
in Harare province will need to be processed in 22 seconds and some cases in
as little as 9 seconds (Chitungwiza Ward 2 - 9,281 registered voters and 2
polling stations). The average number of voters should be consistent by both
constituency and ward. ZESN encourages the ZEC to increase the number of
polling stations in Bulawayo and Harare provinces as well as other urban
centres so that all Zimbabweans have a reasonable opportunity to vote on 29
March.

FOR COMMENTS AND FURTHER DETAILS
CONTACTZimbabwe Election Support Network+263 (04) 250735/6 or 703956/
023277140 zesn@africaonline.co.zwThis e-mail
address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to
view it / info@zesn.org.zw

National Foods Boss Arrested Over Inflated Flour Prices

The
Herald (Harare) Published by the government of Zimbabwe

8 March
2008Posted to the web 10 March 2008

Harare

NATIONAL Foods
managing director Joseph Jeremy Brooke was arrested on Thursday afternoon on
allegations his company inflated prices of flour it supplied to Lobels Bread
while owners of a city supermarket face prosecution for charging fruit
crushes above legal prices.

Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner
Wayne Bvudzijena said Brooke was in police custody as investigations
continue and was expected to appear in court soon on charges of contravening
the National Incomes and Pricing Commission Act.

He said
allegations against National Foods arose on February 18 after it sold 22,5
tonnes of flour to Lobels Bread at $900 million per tonne. The gazetted
price of flour at that time was $600 million per tonne.

Asst Comm
Bvudzijena said Lobels Bread was then asked to make the payment in two
instalments: one of $13,5 billion into the National Foods account (which
covered the legal price) and another of $6,75 billion to a Harare company
called Welfareslide. According to police, National Foods inflated the price
by $6,75 billion.

On February 2, it is further alleged, National
Foods sold another 44 tonnes of flour to Lobels Bread at $2,5 billion per
tonne instead of the gazetted $600 million.

National Foods was paid
$110 billion, prejudicing Lobels Bread of $83,6 billion, it is
alleged.

In the other case, inspectors of the National Incomes and
Pricing Commission allegedly found Food King Supermarket along Julius
Nyerere Way was selling two litres of Mazoe Orange Crush for $33 million
while other syrups were being sold for $30 million.

The approved
price for Mazoe Orange Crush is $22,5 million and $19 million for other
syrups.

When NIPC chairman Mr Godwills Masimirembwa, acting chief
executive officer Mr Esau Ndlovu and the commission's inspectors visited the
supermarket yesterday afternoon, the prices of Mazoe Orange Crush and other
syrups had allegedly been increased again with Mazowe Orange set at $85
million and other syrups at $70 million, said Mr
Masimirembwa.

Invoices from the producer (Schweppes) indicated that the
supermarket bought 1 064 cases of Mazoe Orange Crush on February 25, 2008
and were given the prices at which the commodities were supposed to be
sold.

Zimbabwe Business Watch : Week 11

The mix of
politics and business becomes more and more of a feature in each
businessman's mind.

There are now renewed threats by the pricing
Commission and this time they are stating that there will be "No fines"
meaning that offenders will automatically go to Jail.

This is no
doubt an election ploy to force down prices artificially and attempt to
deceive voters by placing the blame for economic failure on the battered
business community.

The USD is now trading as high as 46 million (46
billion at the old values) and some traders have stopped dealing as they
hang onto forex to try and achieve the biggest advantage possible on the
escalating rate. This puts further pressure on the supply as demand remains
healthy despite weak production levels.

The lowest paid Grade One
worker is now moving into the executive tax bracket of 47,5% and this is a
nightmare for employers who simply end up paying the tax man and not their
productive workers> who they wish to reward and protect from hyper
inflation.

Blow to Makoni's image

Mail and Guardian

Percy
Zvomuya: ANALYSIS

10 March 2008 12:00

The state-owned Zimbabwean newspaper the Herald last week reported that
Citigroup and SABMiller were among the international companies funding Simba
Makoni's bold bid for the presidency, and argued that this confirmed reports
that "his election bid was part of the Western regime-change
agenda".

Both companies have denied the reports, but the
Herald's claim may nonetheless be damaging to Makoni's campaign, especially
in the rural areas of Zimbabwe and on the African continent. In a way it
recalls the image that has again come back to haunt the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) -- that of white farmers making out cheques to the
newly formed party as foreign cameras flashed.

It was a
tactless image; one that the MDC privately regrets and which the world-wise
Zanu-PF seized as incontrovertible evidence that the MDC was a
neo-conservative project of the United States and British
governments.

Former information minister Jonathan Moyo's
propaganda machinery argued that the MDC's entire raison d'ętre was to
frustrate Zanu-PF's revolutionary programme of transferring land from whites
to landless blacks. In an oblique sense, Zanu-PF was right -- white farmers'
support for the MDC was full of self-interest; they wanted to preserve their
privileged status as rich landowners.

But what was
conveniently forgotten in the developing world, where Robert Mugabe became
an instant hero, was the fact that the MDC was a genuine grassroots-based
party with popular appeal. The crisis in Zimbabwe had its genesis in poor
governance, not in land imbalances. Although land issues remained prominent,
most Zimbabweans felt that the Mugabe regime was misgoverning the
country.

Another fact that was conveniently overlooked was
that Zanu-PF and its top functionaries were not loath to receive money from
the "hated imperialists". In the past, Zanu-PF and senior party members
received support from the multinational Lonrho - the sanctions-busting
company that propped up the Ian Smith regime -- and from other white
benefactors who mistreated farm workers.

Whether
SABMiller and Citigroup support Makoni is the subject of another discussion.
It has been reported that what actually happened is that an employee of
SABMiller attended the function in a personal capacity. But the state
information machinery won't let such details stand in its way. It argued
that "the event confirms that the British are working tirelessly to affect
regime change in Zimbabwe by funding opposition parties and
groups".

What the incident has done is to allow Mugabe to
again stoke passionate anger over the question of land -- an issue that has
not been at the fore for quite some time. "The country is ours and, as long
as we are in leadership, we shall never allow the British to come here
again; we have taken the land permanently," Mugabe recently declared with
his customary bravado.

Perhaps we should examine Makoni's
prospects. There is no way he can defeat Mugabe, the odds are very much
against him. His importance is more symbolic and salutary. He is the symbol
of the realisation that the Zanu-PF edifice may yet crumble. Reports carried
in the state media confirm this.

The Herald reported this
week that vice-president Joseph Msika admitted that "he sometimes differs
with President Mugabe, [but] their differences were on minor issues and not
on principles". That's a telling admission. And Makoni is the public face of
these differences. But he should be wary, lest his campaign be sullied the
way the MDC's credentials have been compromised.

About loyalty

I had a brief and uncomfortable conversation today with a
friend.There is much confusion and its difficult to sort out the truth from
the propaganda.In the end, we will all go into the booth on 29 March and
make our choices. Our vote is indeed our secret.

The last 8 years
have been extrodinary as well as difficult and stressful; we have made the
first major challenges to the status quo and many have lost a great deal and
all of our lives have been changed beyond recognition. I acknowledge and
respect the role that Morgan Tsvangirai has played in that process; and he
will always hold a special place in my my heart and in our history. He, and
many others who we may have already forgotten.

Nevertheless, the last 2
years have not been good ones in Tsvangirai's faction and I have increasing
concerns about his leadership ability, especially looking at the inevitable
changes ahead. Whether we like it or not, we have to live in the same space
as those who have perpetrated acts of aggression against us or who have
remained silent. We are all complict one way or another - let us not forget
that many of those in the oppostion were at one time members of Zanu PF;
that while farmers were under siege, urban voices were silent. There are
many shades between black and white, between the good and the bad.

I
think we have become very polarised and are stuck in an MDC - Zanu PF
dynamic and that this is no longer productive but only continues to deepen
the divisions between us. How much longer can we hold these fixed positions
while everything around us crumbles and dies?

Loyalty is a great
quality, but we have to ask to what exactly are we being loyal. The argument
that we should continue voting for Tsvangirai because of his past
contribution is the same argument used by Mugabe as to why we should vote
for him. Didn't he liberate the country from colonial shackles and therefore
we should continue loyalty well beyond his abiltiy or willingness to deliver
"the goods"?

Sometimes, we have to step back from emotional loyalty and
look to the greater good. In this circumstance, I always think of the
politics of post-WW2 Britain. Winston Churchill had led them through the
dark and difficult war years to success, yet the first election afterwards
he was voted right out. While Churchill's role was applauded and
appreciated, the voting public also realised that he was not a peace-time
leader and out he went. Despite that, 50 years later he still remains one of
the most popular British leaders of all time.

Not voting for someone
is not necessarily being disloyal to that individual. People's contributions
to a cause, does not bestow the entitlement of office or reward. We do what
we do because it is the right thing, not because we expect high office. If
Tsvangirai doesn't make it to the Presidency, I will stilll respect and
honour him. I just want to see my country begin the road to recovery, both
nationally and individually.

National University of
Science and Technology - Press Statement

The Zimbabwean

Tuesday, 11 March 2008 06:00

National University of Science
and Technology (NUST), Zimbabwe, held an extra-ordinary general meeting on
Monday, 03 March 2008 to delebarate about the current political developments
in the country, satanic fees currently being charged by the university
administration and bread and butter issues affecting the students.The
students note with a heavy heart the emerging of Dr Simba Makoni as the
third force in the March harmonised presidential elections. As the
intelligensia of the nation, students took their time to analyse all the
prons and cons concerning this issue. Movement for Democratic Change( MDC),
a labour party, was formed in September 1999 and have less than a decade in
Zimbabwean politics. Their core value is social democracy and are against
the dictatorial rule of the current ZANU-PF regime. Dr Makoni should have
co-joined hands with other pro-democratic forces like them, to build a
strong opposition. With such a background, students declared Dr Makoni's
presidential candidature as null and void. Students declared to strongly
rally behind Movement for Democratic Change in these coming
electiopns.Pertaining to the satanic fees, students declared that no student
will pay until their concerns are heard. A five member delegation was
summoned to ingarge the ministry of higher and tertiary education to discuss
the fees issue and the current education funding policy. Food remain a
problem at college, the problem is rooted in the current economic hardships
being experienced in the country. The problem need to be addressed at
national level. Student leaders we instructed to convey the message to all
relevant stackholders so as to come up with long lasting solution.The
moto during the meeting was, "We do not have permanent friends but permanent
interests".Inserted byLangton MuchembereStudents Representative
Council, President

Zimbabwe's Only Chance

DR SIMBA MAKONI – Former SADC Executive
Secretary, Finance Minister and firebrand Zimbabwean politician and leading
African academic is running for President in the forth coming elections on March
29On Saturday, the 08/03/2008 at Birmingham and Midlands Institute saw the
birth of Simba Makoni, Mavambo , Kusile , Dawn – UK Steering Committee. Below
is the team that will be mobilising Resources and support in the UK.SIMBA
MAKONI UK STEERING COMMITTEE

HIV+ orphans flee Zim

News24

10/03/2008 15:08 -
(SA)

Machipanda - Zimbabwean orphans Evans, 13, and Edmond Mahlangu,
8, have crossed a mountain range on foot to get to Mozambique, where they
are slowly recovering on life-saving Aids drugs in short supply back
home.

"We walked for a day in the mountains. We had to keep quiet because
of the guards," recounted the boys' 17-year-old sister, Emmaculate, who made
the 10km journey with her HIV-positive siblings at the beginning of
February.

"It was tough above all for my brothers. They had to walk alone
because I was carrying bags."

The children had taken refuge with an
aunt not far from the Machipanda border post in the central Mozambican
province of Manica.

Orphaned in 2006, the children lived with their
grandmother in Mutare on the Zimbabwean side of the border until she
banished them in January.

"My grandmother chased us away. She was afraid
of the boys because they are sick. She was scared to touch them, even to
cook for them," Emmaculate said.

'We accommodate all
patients'

Without any identity documents, the children fled to Mozambique
as little hope remained in their home country with a critical lack of food
and drugs and official inflation exceeding 100 000%.

This state of
affairs was widely blamed on longtime President Robert Mugabe whose
controversial land reform policies, seizing white-owned farms for
redistribution to landless blacks, all but killed commercial agriculture and
scared off foreign investors.

Evans and Edmond were put on
anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment as soon as they arrived in Mozambique. "I
feel better now. It's not so bad as before," the elder boy said timidly, his
body covered in a severe rash.

The boys had been given ARVs once before,
back home in Zimbabwe, but government-sponsored drugs were hard to come by
and private sector prices were prohibitive.

"Hundreds of Zimbabweans come
here to get Aids treatment that Mozambique provides for free," said a local
coordinator of the national council against Aids, a government
body.

The Zimbabwean beneficiaries' numbers are not well
documented.

"We accommodate all patients without discriminating," said
provincial head doctor Marilia Pugas.

More than 100 000 HIV-positive
people now receive free ARV treatment in Mozambique, up from 7 000 in
2005.

"It is extraordinary. But the costs are enormous," said Maurico
Cysne, Mozambican representative of the United Nations Programme on AIDS
(UNAIDS).

"Treatment costs $50 a year." One of the poorest countries in
the world, Mozambique, like most of southern Africa was buckling under the
impact of Aids.

'There are prostitutes all over'

It had an
average HIV prevalence rate of 16% of the population, rising to 23% in some
areas of Manica, a transit point for heavy trucks making their way from
Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi to the Mozambican port of Beira.

"There are
prostitutes all along the route," said an official "Many are Zimbabweans
more concerned about survival than protecting themselves against
Aids."

According to UNAIDS latest statistics, Zimbabwe's HIV
prevalence was on the decrease with 15.6% of adults between 15 and 49
affected.

With the scrapping of visa requirements between the two
countries last November, the number of Zimbabweans crossing into Mozambique
had risen sharply.

Paradoxically, clandestine migration also shot up
as Zimbabwean authorities were unable to reverse a massive backlog in
issuing passports required to enter Mozambique.

"In January, 22 636
Zimbabweans, mostly women, crossed the border legally at three posts in
Manica, most through Machipanda - up from 8 971 in January 2007," said
provincial migration service director Felipe Cumbe.

"They are allowed to
stay for 30 days but 85% make their purchases and return. We don't know what
happens to the other 15%."

"Many others, including children and very
young girls, cross illegally," added Alberto Limeme, customs chief of
Machipanda.

Edo to Partner Zimbabwean Farmers

Edo State Government at the weekend said that it has
held talks with White Zimbabwean farmers on the possibility of establishing
large commercial farms in the state.

Currently Zimbabwean farmers are
in Kwara State where they have established mechanised
farms.

Special Adviser to the Edo State Governor on Farm Development,
Ms. Uwa Osunbor, who disclosed this in Benin said that representatives of
the Zimbabwean farmers had already inspected sites in three local govenment
areas in the northern part of the state, adding that each farmer would
require about a thousand hectares, saying that the arrangement would be
comprehensive, giving room for farming processing and export, adding that,
"We have the land and the climate. Since they are willing to come ,'why
not'. We went to three local governments where the chairmen were ready and
willing to accept them."

Ms. Osunbor disclosed that Etsako West,
Etsako Central where the farmers visited would be suitable for rice farming
just as Uhunmwode and Uromi would be a good place for pineapple and
oranges.

She, however, said that the farmers would not just be let in to
make their profit and go away. "They will teach new technologies to our
farmers; how to apply fertiliser and more."

The special adviser
allayed fears that the farmers would take away the farmlands from the
indigenous owners, saying, "It is the indigenous people that will benefit.
Most of the land is wasting away. We have over 200,000 hectares of land
wasting away," even as she indicated that some American farmers were soon to
come for inspection.

'Investing in women and
girls'

The Daily Catalyst Monday 10 March

10 March 200

As the world commemorated
International Women's day on the 8th of March 2008, Zimbabwean women had
nothing to celebrate as the socio-economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe
worsens with women being the most affected. The theme for this year's
commemoration was 'Investing in women and girls'.

According to the World
Health Organisation (WHO), the life expectancy rate for Zimbabwean women is
standing at 34 years as compared to 60 years at independence which is lower
than that in war torn areas. Iraq's life expectancy rate stands at 61 years,
Afghanistan, more than 40 years and Sudan, 57.

The inflation rate
was, at the end of January 2008, pegged at 100,580.2%[1] while 85% of the
population in Zimbabwe are living in abject poverty. Women continue to bear
the brunt of the soaring economy. Sanitary ware, which is a basic right for
any female is being sold for more than Z$30 million, which is way beyond the
reach of the majority. Many women have thus been driven into prostitution
due to the economic hardships being faced in the country.

HIV and AIDS
have ravaged families with females being the worst burdened with nursing the
family members who have succumbed to the deadly disease. WHO reports that
approximately 3 500 people are dying in Zimbabwe every week mainly due to
the AIDS pandemic and related illnesses. Women are forced to care for the
sick as stereotypically they are viewed as caregivers. This has impacted
heavily on the women who still have to wake up in the early hours of the day
to pursue their daily chores of fetching the basic commodities which are in
short supply.

The government, which is supposed to be promoting women's
rights, continues to expose them to abuse through its uniformed forces. On
19 February 2008 when the Progressive Teacher's Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ)
leaders were illegally detained by the ZANU PF youth militia, the women who
were among those detained reported that they were beaten on their private
parts and accused of being prostitutes. This was in full view of a police
officer from the Harare Central Law and Order section.

In addition,
women are being harassed by the police under 'Operation Chipo chiroorwa'
(Chipo get married) where the police are targeting prostitutes. However, a
number of innocent women have been incarcerated and accused of prostitution
even in instances when they have been sported returning to their homes from
buying groceries. Such actions by those tasked with safeguarding the law
show how stakeholders are failing to uplift females.

As state party to
the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW),
the Zimbabwean government should promote and respect women's rights in order
to fully invest in women and girls. The government should improve the
social, political and economic environment which allows both men and women
to have equal opportunities if the country is to develop in line with the
Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs)